My thoughts on ML's experiment. ML, and others, please correct me if I'm wrong.
As I understand it, he is attempting to determine if the GG is an acceptable fish for a small kids pond. They are artificially fed with no predators. He accepts the premise that sooner or later, someday, their progeny will have to be eliminated by rotenone or maybe the addition of suitable predators. The GG, like other hybrids, are not marketed as a forage fish. Fishing by Grandkids only should keep them from becoming too hook shy. Larger sunfish can become just as hook shy as bass.
Given the parameters, he is not attempting to answer the question of whether the GG shows superiority over other hybrids or even over common BG or CNBG. To test whether it is a superior fish, a GG test group and control group(s) using one or more of the other sunfish would have to be established. Since every pond is unique, they would have to be stocked simultaneously and each sampled over time with the results logged and reported. When the original stockers were large enough enough to escape predation, a predator such as male bass could be introduced to eliminate the offspring to cut down on food competition with the original stockers.
ML has already proven, to my satisfaction, that he can raise and catch large CNBG. He has also reported that he can err by stocking a bunch of small HSB and mistakenly leaving a LMB in the pond. Burp!
Conclusive tests are tough. The disclaimer of ceterus parebus(sp?) or "all other things considered equal" has to be stated. However, they really never are equal. This is where genetics could come into play and I know very little about genetics. Stocking GG and another HBG under controlled test conditions would never be really conclusive. What would the results be if one of the species came from a weak parent? It should skew the results. To properly test superiority, multiple tests under varying conditions would be needed. Select test subjects of KNOWN parentage would be needed. Even then, there are always "nay sayers". But then, differences of opinion are why we have horse races.
ML will be successful on at least one part of the test. He is attempting to put smiles on Grandkids faces. As long as Grandpa is fishing with them, they could be a bunch of 4 inch runts.
